CROSS
by Darkness593
Summary: The second NEOCROSS origin follows the history and later awakening of the Blue Wolf, Keith Jacobs. Please note that the entire first half of this is expository with some flashbacks on events that shape Keith as a character. Rated M for some nudity and brutality. RWBY belongs to Rooster Teeth.
1. Chapter 1

**This story is the second of the NEOCROSS origins. This one is Keith's. It takes place after RWBY Volume 3.**

Ruby sat on her bed, staring at the black bag that sat in front of her. the way she sat expressed sadness while her facial expression displayed guilt. How could she not feel guilty? It was by her own hand that someone else was lying at Death's door.

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 _Three days ago_

Flashes of blue and silver illuminated the dark cavern as the scythe and twin swords clashed. Ruby, completely encompassed by her own silver aura, kept striking at her black haired opponent, who was already at enough of a disadvantage with a second soul, and by extension half his power, being extracted from his body to keep him from turning into a monster.

The other soul was being placed into a female body with red hair, as well as wolf ears and a wolf tail. The one extracting the soul was an old man that held the air of a leader. Standing with him were Ruby's friends, Jaune, Nora and Ren. With them was another boy who wore a black vest and white scarf over a white shirt. He had brown pants and black shoes. his hair was brown while his eyes were green. On his back rested a traditional scythe with the blade folded in to the handle.

"Keith!" the boy called, "Fall back, the transfer is making you weak. If you keep this up, you'll be killed!"

"I don't care Takeru!" Keith called back, his blue eyes burning with determination, "If I don't break her defenses now, we'll never get another chance! I'd rather die saving her than live knowing I let her down!"

"He wouldn't be fighting at all if he hadn't run off in the first place," Takeru said quietly, looking at the body now glowing with red aura, "Why do I get the feeling you already know how much pain you've caused him."

A burst of Keith's blue aura snapped Takeru's attention back to the fight. Keith tried to push Crescent Rose to the ground, but had one of his swords flung from his hands as a result. Keith dodged swing after swing of the scythe. He took the closest chance he had to save her from her own power, lunging in as she pulled Crescent Rose back for another strike. He reached for her with his free hand as she pushed Crescent Rose forward. The dispersal of silver aura temporarily blinded everyone.

Ruby opened her eyes to see Keith's face. His eyes were wide, the colour darkening.

"Keith?" she asked.

She received no response, except for the sound of his other sword clanging on the ground. His body lurched forward as she looked down to see Crescent Rose's blade deep in his chest.

"No," Ruby sobbed, pure panic in her voice as she pulled her blood stained weapon out, "please, no."

Everyone else's vision returned in time for them to see Ruby cradling Keith's lifeless body in her arms, sobbing at the thought of losing another friend. Blood and tears soaked into the dirt as footsteps echoed in the cavern. The sound made the wolf ears on the transfer body twitch. The girl opened her eyes and attacked the newcomer, pinning him to the cave wall. He looked like a high class man with a short beard.

"Coward!" the wolf snapped at him, tightening her grip on his throat, "You did this! He's dead because you're too afraid to fix your own mistakes!"

"You can't kill me," the man said with feigned confidence, "My resources are too valuable to the world."

"It'll heal."

With one squeeze of her hand, she snapped his neck. Now that she had shown that the transfer was a success, the old man could truly appreciate his handiwork. Not a single part of her body drooped or sagged, everything was held firmly in place by her slightly muscular frame. She made her way to Ruby, backhanding anyone who gazed lower than her face. When the wolf stood over her, Ruby held Keith closer, looking up in fear.

"I didn't mean it," she sobbed, "I wasn't in control."

"I know you weren't," the wolf crouched down, "I have already dealt with the issue." She began to reach for Keith, but Ruby pulled away, "Don't worry. The last thing I want is to bring him any more pain." She held her hand over his wound, which closed under the red glow of her aura. She then sent a surge of aura into his chest, jump starting his heart, "I'm still not used to this body, so he's still in danger of dying," she explained as Keith began breathing again, though only barely, "If I am to heal him completely, I must bring him back to Earth. Immediately."

The wolf picked Keith up and looked at the old man, who pulled out a device and used it to open a portal. The wolf turned to enter the portal when Keith grabbed Ruby's hand. The two girls looked at him.

"My bag," he said weakly, "back at camp. It's yours now."

Keith dropped his hand and the wolf made her way to the portal. She stopped to look at Takeru.

"You're not coming?" She asked.

"Someone needs to keep his swords safe while he's recovering." He responded, "Besides, I have more to do here." He tapped Keith's hand with his own, "Get well soon buddy."

The wolf entered the portal, followed by the old man, and it closed behind them.

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 _Present_

Ruby hesitantly opened Keith's bag and carefully pulled the contents out. First was a video camera and a box of recorded discs. Second was a small sword wrapped in a tattered brown cloak. Third, an orange and gold dress. Fourth, a black tuxedo. Lastly, a photo album. Ruby opened the box of discs and noticed one on top labelled "Play me first". She put the disc in the camera and opened up the area with the screen. She closed her curtains, sat down, and pressed play. Keith popped up on the screen.

"Ruby," he began, "at the time I'm recording this, we've only just met. But I can tell that if anything happens to me while I'm here, I want you to gain possession of my belongings. What you're watching this on is the camera I used to make a video diary for the last six years of my life. The discs in the box are the previous entries. The cloak and sword are my childhood possessions. The dress was my mom's, the tux my dad's. The photo album is my family's. It holds memories from my parent's time at Nairen Academy and mine. Nairen is a school for warriors spanning from the third grade to the twelfth. You'll learn more about it as you view my diary. Please note that these are only _my_ entries. My first year at the academy was covered by my trainer, so you're missing a year from the collection."

The video ended and Ruby looked at the items on her bed. She picked up the photo album and opened it to the front page. At first she thought she was looking at pictures of Keith, then she saw the heading.

 _Heads of the Jaquobes(Jacobs) Family_

Judging from the pictures, Keith's messy hair wasn't due to him being in constant battle, it was a family trait. She followed the line with her finger until she arrived on Keith's grandfather. _Bernard Archamedes Jacobs, 10/11/1956- ._ Since there was no death date, Ruby could only guess that Keith's grandfather was still alive. She moved one spot down the line, to Keith's father. _Darryll Rasputin Jacobs, 06/12/1987-13/11/2001._ Of all of Keith's family, his father looked the most like him. The only difference between them was that Keith's eyes were blue and his father's were brown. She looked at the last picture in the line. _Keith Undella Jacobs, 15/07/2001- ._ Ruby looked back and forth between Keith's birth date and his father's death date. She couldn't believe that anyone could lose their family so soon after being born. She wanted answers, but she didn't want to look into Keith's diary just yet. She left her room, taking the photo album with her, hoping that the one person who could answer her questions was still here for his visit.

She was in luck. Takeru was still sitting at the table drinking coffee with her dad. Keith's swords leaned against the wall by the back door, tied together by the blades with Takeru's white scarf. Takeru looked up and noticed the album in Ruby's arms.

"I'm gonna need a lot more coffee," he muttered, then spoke up, "Sit down Ruby. If you want to talk about what I think you want to talk about, then we're gonna be here a while."

Ruby sat down and placed the album on the table. Takeru flipped through it before finding the right page.

"Keith's story starts here," Takeru explained, turning the album over so Ruby could get a proper look at it.

It was a newspaper clipping dated only one day after Keith's father's death. The headline told Ruby that Keith's life was anything but ordinary, even by her standards.

 _Nairen's Strongest Dead! Infant Child Orphaned!_

 **And so begins the second of the NEOCROSS origins. If you have any questions regarding Keith, ask them and I will see if they can be answered in this story, if not, I could probably tell you personally.**


	2. Chapter 2

"You should know that I only know this stuff because Keith himself told me after learning it from many others," Takeru explained.

Ruby wasn't paying attention as she reached a point in the article on the news clipping that made her choke up. Keith's father was found dead in a chamber that only allowed for one life to leave, holding a crying baby Keith in his arms. This showed that Darryll Jacobs was fatally wounded as a warrior, but died as a father. Takeru knew exactly what she had just read when tears escaped her eyes.

"A psychic gave Keith access to his last memory of his dad as thanks for saving their town," Takeru stated, getting Ruby's attention, "so if anyone knows what happened that day, it's him."

"Does he ever talk about it?" Ruby asked, almost certain that she knew the answer.

"Yes," Takeru answered, receiving surprised looks from the family in front of him.

"He has to be very brave to be able to recount his most painful memory to anyone," Taiyang commented.

"The way he sees it, the fate of the Earth's greatest swordsman should be known to all, but only if they ask."

"What about the wolf?" Ruby suddenly switched topics, "She seemed so calm when she healed Keith. Not at all like when she fought the mercenaries in his body."

"Because Keith was just piggybacking off of her power," Takeru explained, choosing to continue before anyone spoke up, "The side of Keith you saw that night was the _other half_ of his personality. You see, everyone possesses two separate halves to their personality. No one notices because in most people the two halves coexist peacefully within the soul. Keith is different. Before I explain Keith's, I should explain the different pairs. The most common pairs in a human are Dominant and Submissive, and Primitive and Advanced. The most common pair found in half-breeds, or Fauna as you call them here, are Human and Animal, obviously. But Keith, he's an anomaly. His two halves are constantly at war with one another. Most of the time, he can hide it, but other times... have you ever noticed that sometimes he seems distant? Almost as if he isn't there, even when he's standing right next to you?" Ruby nodded, "Those are the moments when the battle is in his mind as well as his soul."

"And what are Keith's two halves?" Taiyang asked for Ruby.

"Controlled and _Ballistic_ ," Takeru cringed when he identified the latter half, "if Keith goes Ballistic, there's hardly anything that can stop him. He becomes a monster that's only instinct is to kill." Ruby looked a little scared of the description, but mostly confused, and Takeru knew why, "the fact that he hesitated in front of you that day means that the Controlled half, the Keith we know, was holding him back. So, now you know that Keith is always fighting, on the inside as well as the outside."

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 _One week ago_

Ruby stood frozen in shock at the massacre she had just witnessed. Keith, who had seemed so nice just moments ago, stood in the middle of a puddle of blood, bodies littering the ground around him. The bodies belonged to mercenaries who had ambushed them with orders to capture them alive.

Most of the bodies were missing their heads, with blood still gushing out of their necks. Others had holes where their faces should have been while the two who had the markings of leaders had been ripped in half, one along the spine, the other along the waist.

Keith himself stood at the ready, waiting for another fool with a death wish. His hair and eyes had turned bright red while his pupils had dilated to the point that they couldn't be seen anymore. His irises had also dilated so that it looked as though they had replaced his pupils. The most starling change to the warrior was the fact that he now had a wolf's ears and tail, both a brilliant red with white tips. His hair by his new ears, as well as the area of his white pants just below his tail were a darker red, showing just how painful it must have been to grow them. His hands and feet, on the other hand, were completely covered in the blood of the mercenaries.

Ruby risked a step forward, snapping a twig under her foot, causing Keith's attention to snap to her. The blood splashed as Keith walked to her at a brisk pace. He began to raise his hand, as if preparing to do to her as he did to the mercenaries, but stopped. For a brief instant, Ruby saw his eyes return to normal. Though, rather than shimmering with benevolence, as they usually do, they glowed, as if a flame of pure agony had been lit within them. As quickly as the instant came, it vanished, allowing the monster Keith had become to raise it's hand over it's head. It snarled at her, baring the fangs that likely grew in with the ears and tail. It was about to strike when something got between them.

Takeru stood and raised a gauntlet clad arm. A blade extended from it, causing the monster to stagger back. The blade retracted and Takeru reached back, grabbing the pitch black handle of his traditional scythe. He pulled it out, careful to avoid hitting anyone with it, and pierced the ground with it's silver blade as it unfolded into it's usual place. The monster doubled back and snarled at the blade.

"You know what this is Keith," Takeru said in an authoritative voice, "Don't make me use it."

The monster backed away, then doubled over. It clutched it's side, then it's head as though it were in pain. It opened it's mouth and let out a sound somewhere between a screech and a roar. The pool of blood dispersed as the red aura slowly faded to blue and the inhuman features receded. Keith looked up at the group in front of him as his eyes returned to their normal state and blue color. He looked around and adopted an expression of pure disgust and horror at the sight of what he had done in his other state.

The group attempted to approach him, but he backed away, shaking his head. He looked at his blood soaked hands before flinging them down in disgust, creating a shock wave of blue aura to keep the others away. He gave them all a single look, a look that conveyed an apology he couldn't bring to words, before turning and running off. Ruby attempted to follow, but Takeru held her back.

"The best thing we can do for him now is leave him be," Takeru explained as Ruby squirmed in an attempt to escape his grip, "chasing him won't help anyone."

"And how do you know?" Ruby huffed, defeated.

"Because he's my best friend, and I know him better than any of you." The group looked at him, not wanting to believe him, "My name is Takeru, and like Keith, I'm from another world, and it's called Earth."

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 _Present_

Ruby looked over at the scythe leaning against the wall behind Takeru. He followed her gaze.

"You're wondering why Keith's ballistic side was so afraid of it, aren't you?" Takeru asked, receiving a slow nod in response, "It's an ancient weapon from Earth, probably as old as time itself. It had but one master before me: Death. The scythe itself has gone by many names throughout history, most people thought these names belonged to the wielder, 'The Harbinger of Death', 'The Sickle of the Damned', 'Death's Scythe' if you want to be informal. But the most common name for it, the one that strikes the most fear, worthy of a _tool_ of it's status is 'The Grim Reaper'."

"You said tool that time," Ruby stated.

"That's because it _is_ a tool. A tool that's only purpose is to escort souls to the afterlife. Any who touch it's blade, and aren't pure of heart, die instantly. It's by far the most dangerous artefact in existence, and it is my burden to carry it until the day I die."

"Why is it your burden?" Taiyang asked.

"Because I defeated Death in honourable combat. The only prize in that kind of fight is the item with which the combatants fought. Now, that scythe is my responsibility, my curse. I have already made a solemn vow to never use it as anything more than a last resort."

The three of them sat in silence for a moment. Ruby wondered how many burdens the people of Earth were forced to carry.

"We should get back on topic," Takeru broke the silence, "What would you like to know about Keith's life on Earth?"

Ruby flipped through the photo album until she found a photo she thought was interesting. There were two young boys, one of them obviously Keith since his hair never seemed to change, standing in front of a food stand. The signs around the stand were written in a language Ruby couldn't understand. Ruby thought the young Keith looked cute, stuffing his face with a big smile.

"What's this?" Ruby asked, pointing to the picture.

"Oh, I remember that," Takeru practically giggled, "That's the day I first met Keith. We blew my allowance for the week on Takoyaki and arcade games. That's a day I'll never forget. You see, Keith's class was attending my school in Japan while Nairen was going through some renovations. It's funny really, his entire first year of diary entries actually ended up as a vlog of his trip. And trust me, there _is_ a difference between a video diary and a vlog. You know what? Go get the diary and the entries, we're gonna watch them," He thought of something as Ruby left the room, "And try on his mom's dress," he called, "We need to see if it needs to be refitted."

"How did you know that...?" Taiyang began.

"Please. I know Keith like the back of my hand, so I know exactly what he put in his bag without looking in myself. I bet I even know what he put in the secret pocket."

"Secret pocket?"

"The one pocket that's contents he would never hand to anyone, not even me."

 **This may end up being one of my longest stories, in terms of chapters anyway. Please bear with me on it.**


	3. Chapter 3

_Earth- Alberta, Canada- 5 km from Canada/US border_

Keith woke up in a room that felt familiar but, at the same time, was entirely new to him. He placed his hand on his chest and felt the familiar coarse feeling of medical bandages, though he also felt something else. He felt something lumpy and painful. He took a sharp breath as the pain spiked when his hand reached the middle of his chest.

'What-?' he thought for a moment before remembering what happened a couple days prior, 'Oh... right.'

"Before you even think about removing those bandages," a voice from elsewhere in the room said, "just know that I had to choose between repairing your spine and healing your chest completely. I'm not yet used to this body, so I wasn't able to do both."

Keith followed the sound of the voice to see where in the room it was coming from. He found the Red Wolf leaning on the side table beside the bed, just as naked as when she first woke up. With the exception of her scalp, wolf ears and tail, she didn't have a single follicle of hair on her body. The hair on her scalp was long and extravagant. Her ears twitched every few seconds as they picked up on a new sound while her tail swayed. Her figure was, in his opinion, the perfect mix between a warrior and a model. Her skin looked so smooth that everyone would want to caress it, yet it looked so firm that people would be to scared to because she might rip their arms off if they did.

Keith already knew that Nairen's headmaster, Benjamin Macintosh, had created the body and transferred the Red Wolf's soul into it. Not because he had done it before for one of Keith's schoolmates, but because the headmaster was the biggest pervert in the country and a registered sex offender. His handiwork was obvious, large breasts that were still small enough to never sag, a small, tight butt that was still pleasing enough for perverts to stare at, and a blemish free, practically flawless, complexion. Keith wouldn't be complaining if it wasn't for one tiny detail. The Red Wolf had been with him his whole life, making her the closest thing he had to a sister.

"Could you please put some clothes on?" Keith asked, tearing his eyes away from her.

"I would," she responded, "unfortunately, the uniforms the old man had decided on for the workers, all of whom are young, attractive women by the way, make walking around nude look decent in comparison."

"Yeah, Professor Macintosh is the biggest pervert I know, so it doesn't surprise me."

"I wasn't referring to that old man."

"What? Then who-?" Keith stopped to study the look on her face, "Grandpa's here?" The Red Wolf nodded, "Huh. Fifteen years. It took him fifteen years to finally take interest in my life."

"He's been trying to run this place."

"Yeah," Keith got out of the bed, "well, last time I checked, dad placed the deed to the ranch under my name while mom was still pregnant. Pretty sure that makes me the only one who can give it up. Even to family."

Keith looked out the window as he put his newly restored clothes on. the Red Wolf had told the truth, all of the ranch hands that his trainer, Grey, had hired for him were women, the oldest had to be no more than twenty-six. The way they were dressed made them look more like strippers than ranch hands.

As Keith opened the door to the room, the Red Wolf draped his blanket around herself to cover up and she followed him out.

"How long do you think it will be before you're strong enough to use that 'Energy to Matter' trick you were whispering about two years ago?" Keith asked.

"At the current pace it's taking to get used to this body? I would say four more days." she responded.

"Just hold on 'til then and you'll be able to make your own outfit."

The two stepped out on the deck and immediately spotted Keith's grandfather. Bernard Jacobs had shoulder length grey hair with bangs identical to Keith's. He had a rapier at his hip and wore a traditional battle uniform from an old french army.

"Last I checked, our ancestors were from Portugal, not France." Keith caught his grandfather's attention, "What the hell are _my_ ranch hands wearing grandpa?"

"People need to know who they work for." Bernard stated.

"And you couldn't have picked anything a little more, I don't know, decent? I'm gonna be raising a family here one day. I can't have the people working here wearing stuff that's so inappropriate!"

"I told you he wouldn't approve," Marian, Keith's grandmother, said from a deck chair, "He's more like his mother than anyone."

"And you always approved of her," Bernard sighed, they had clearly been through this before.

"Yes, I did." She shifted her attention, "By the way Keith, I noticed you arrived without your belongings. You didn't, by any chance, meet a pretty girl on your trip, did you?"

"Grandma!" Keith blushed, "That has nothing to do with it. I was dying and didn't have time to get my bag. I had to give it to someone."

"And was that someone a pretty girl?" Keith refused to make I contact, giving her the answer she wanted, "I thought so."

"And what's she like?" Bernard asked, "Is she worthy to marry into the family?"

"It's not like that! Besides, isn't it my choice?"

"The bride of the current head of the family _must_ have the blessing of a previous head. _That_ is the law of our family."

"We're just friends! I've only known Ruby a couple of weeks anyway! Why would I want to think about marriage anyway?"

"So her name is Ruby?" Marian smirked.

"Shit," Keith said under his breath.

"You mind your tongue in front of your grandmother!" Bernard snapped.

"Well maybe I wouldn't have said that if you guys weren't prying into my social life!"

"Let's all calm down," Marian stood, ready to separate them if it got ugly, "Keith, you know we haven't seen you since you were a baby. We were just curious regarding what you've been up to all these years."

"OK, I'll tell you," Keith glanced at a ranch hand, no older than fourteen, passing out of the corner of his eye, then looked at Bernard, "As soon as _you_ put in an order for some decent uniforms."

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 _Remnant- Ruby's house_

Ruby watched as Takeru hooked the camera up to a projector he seemed to have pulled out of nowhere. There was no possible way that a projector, speakers and all those cords could have possibly fit in his satchel. Ruby heard the front door open as started connecting the speakers.

"Hello, anybody home?" a familiar voice called.

The sound of footsteps grew louder until Yang came into view. She looked at Takeru's setup, particularly the projector.

"We watchin' a movie?" She asked.

"More of a life story," Takeru responded, "Keith's."

"Oh, I get it." Yang smirked at Ruby.

"What?" Ruby asked.

"Oh nothing. Just proud that my baby sister finally has a boyfriend!"

"Wha-? H-he's not... We aren't... It's not like that." Ruby panicked.

"Relax sis, I'm just messing with you. It's totally natural for you to want to learn more about him _just_ because he left you his stuff."

"Oh no, she's totally into him," Takeru chortled, "we had her put on his mom's dress to see if it needed to be refitted and she still hasn't changed out of it."

Ruby blushed and looked down, only just realising that she was still in the dress. It was just as comfy to her as her normal attire so she probably thought she was still in her regular outfit. It was just tight and loose in all the right places, in Ruby's opinion, and fit her better than the dress she wore to the dance at Beacon. Ruby looked up to find Yang leaning in and inspecting the dress, the most devious smirk on her face.

"Imagine if it were white," she whispered, "with the cutest veil over your face. A bouquet of flowers in your hands as you walk slowly towards him while he's in a tux."

Unlike most romantic ideas which flew over her head, Ruby immediately knew what Yang was getting at, and it made her face turn as red as her name.

"Done!" Takeru jumped up excitedly, "who's ready to watch Keith's story?"

No one had the chance to answer as Ruby fainted, embarrassed by her own imagination.

 **How do you guy's like Keith's family? What do you think Ruby will think of them, and vice versa?**


	4. Chapter 4

As soon as they first entry began, Yang had to place her hand over Ruby's mouth to keep her from squealing over how cute Kieth looked when he was nine years old. The younger Keith wore a blue t-shirt with a gray, long-sleeved undershirt and loose fitting soft blue pants. Over top of that was the ragged brown cloak that Ruby was currently clinging to as though it was her favorite blanket. His hair was the same as his older form but his other features were softer and less defined. He was in a brown walled room with a bed in the corner, a small refrigerator at the foot of the bed, a closet with a sliding door beside him and a window in the back.

"His dorm room at Nairen," Takeru whispered, clarifying his location for the others.

"OK," the recording of Keith said in a light, yet battle worn voice, clearing his throat before continuing, "Grey didn't really tell me how to do this so, uh," He looked around, almost as if he was trying to find his topic, "I'm Keith Jacobs and I guess this is supposed to be my diary. Um, well, I, uh, learned that the school is going under renovations for the year, so we, the students I mean, are going to be staying at other schools in other countries. I, uh, that is we, the second years, or fourth graders depending on who you talk to," Keith chuckled as if the term 'forth grader' was a joke, "are going to Japan. I'm honestly a little scared. I've been on my own my whole life, so I know how to survive, nut I've never been outside of Canada before."

"Japan?" Ruby asked, prompting Takeru to pause the entry, "Canada?"

"Earth doesn't have Kingdoms," Takeru explained, "It has countries. Japan is my home country while Canada is Keith's. They're separated by an ocean so the only ways to get there are by boat or plane." Takeru resumed the entry.

"But I bet this is how everyone feels," The young Keith continued.

"Not everyone!" A girl's voice called, making Keith roll his eyes.

"Yeah, I guess I forgot to introduce my roommate." Keith turned the camera to a curtain in the middle of the room, "come on and show yourself Sarah."

"Why? My brother's the celebrity." The girl, Sarah called back.

"Yeah, well Aaron's not my roommate, you are."

"Fine," Sarah said in a fake annoyed voice, pulling the curtain to the side, "Hello diary viewers, I'm Sarah Felo. Spelled F-E, pronounced 'fay'."

Sarah wore a green vest with a matching skirt. She had shoulder length brown hair, though it was styled in a way to make it look shorter, and green eyes. She had cat ears on top of her head and a tail swaying beneath her skirt, a catgirl.

"Yeah," Keith put the camera back on himself, "I can honestly say from experience that you should _not_ pronounce her name wrong, especially in front of her." He rubbed the area below his left ribs as if to express the point.

"Why are you doing that now?" Sarah asked, "You need to finish packing."

"Oh yeah," Keith laughed, putting his hand behind his head, "guess I forgot."

Keith reached over and pushed a button, making the image go black.

"And that was his very first entry," Takeru said, taking the disc out of the camera, "If you need to eat or pee, do it now. The next one is much longer."

"How do you know?" Yang asked.

"Who do you think helped Keith catalogue these? When I met him, he had disc book. Do you know how flimsy those are? He needed a disk box, and I gave him one."

The girls watched what Takeru was doing while their father got up, heeding Takeru's advice.

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 _Earth- The Canada-US border_

"Sorry everyone," Keith called as he rode a Tyrannosaurus off of the highway, "She usually avoids human interaction. I hope she didn't cause too much trouble."

"And here I thought the Felo boy's wolf would be the strangest thing I saw this year," a border patrolman sighed before calling to Keith, "You Nairen dropouts need to keep a closer eye on your pets."

The Tyrannosaurus stopped and turned around, stepping closer to the human who shouted at her master.

"Whoa, whoa, Muti, no!" Keith called as the dinosaur leaned down to look into the human's eyes, "Muti, stop! Don't you do it!"

Muti opened her maw and let out a roar that made the patrolman's hat fly off. Once she was satisfied that the human was sufficiently terrified, she marched off back towards the ranch.

Keith looked back and mouthed the words 'I'm sorry' to the patrolman. When they were in the trees, Keith placed his hand on Muti's back, sending a surge of energy through her body, transforming her. Keith dropped to the ground as her form sifted to the shape and size of a human's, albeit with a T-rex tail. The attire that went with her transformation was amazonian in nature, but was the color of her skin in her natural form. She looked at him with red-green eyes, an innocent look on her face.

"Oh, don't give me that," Keith walked ahead, causing her to follow, "When I brought you here from your pocket dimension, you promised you wouldn't go out when I reverted you to your primal form. It causes a panic."

"But master," Muti whined, "your grandfather left the gate open. You know my hindsight isn't too good in my primal form, besides, that human would have got off a lot worse if I allowed him to insult you any further."

"He wouldn't have got off at all. Besides, I wasn't insulted. Dropping out was my choice. There was nothing more I could learn at Nairen. I've told you this."

"Yeah, but you didn't tell me why you really dropped out."

Keith stopped and sighed. He knew he would have to tell someone, but he had hoped that the first person he told would be Takeru. He turned to Muti.

"Remember when we first met? I told you I was human."

"Mm-hmm," she nodded.

"Turns out I was only half right."

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 _Four months prior- Nairen Academy_

Keith picked the photo album up off of his desk and opened it. He found a picture of his parents from before an international tournament. Every time his trainer, Grey, talked about his parents, he always described his mother, Andri, as being the most beautiful girl in Nairen, and Keith could see what he meant. She had long red hair with yellow bangs, and purple eyes with hints of green. Upon closer inspection, he realized that, while he had his dad's jaw, he had his mom's chin.

"He only told you about her beauty, didn't he?" Professor Macintosh announced his presence in the doorway.

"What do you mean?" Keith asked, putting the album in his bag.

"Well, let's just say that your ability to adapt didn't come from your father."

"Adapt? What are you talking about?"

"A nine year old Canadian becoming fluent in Japanese in only two weeks isn't normal."

"Oh, so you heard about that. Wait, that was a little over five years ago. Why are you bringing it up now?"

"So you know where to look while you're trying to find people from your mother's side of the family."

"Where to-?" Keith looked at the headmaster, "You mean you know where they are?"

"Not exactly. But I can tell you which galaxy to look in."

Keith slammed his old sword on the desk, "GALAXY?!"

"Yes, she wasn't human." He held his finger up when Keith opened his mouth, "And before you ask, that makes you half human. You're mother, and by extent you, was a Morphos. A shapeshifter able to adapt to any and every form of society. That is how you were able to adapt to life in Japan so quickly."

"I- I'm an alien? Even knowing that, how am I supposed to leave the planet? Let alone find... wherever it is I came from?"

"You? You were born here on Earth. You're a bona fide Earthling, your mom wasn't"

"OK, so, where am I supposed to-?" A sudden tremor cut Keith off.

"We'll talk later," Macintosh ran off.

"Wait!" Keith shoved the last of his belongings into his bag and ran after the headmaster.

Keith followed him into the staff elevator. Another tremor hit as the doors closed, shattering the mirrors on the walls.

"I need to know, how-?"

"From the moment I met your mother," Macintosh cut him off, "I knew that no one that beautiful could possibly be human."

"That's not what I was gonna say. I was gonna ask how I can help."

"Just stay back. You've never dealt with anything like this before."

The doors opened to reveal a swirling purple vortex.

"That's a wormhole, isn't it?" Keith asked.

"So you have been paying attention in class. Yes, the school was built around it. Each headmaster was charged with watching over it, in case something ever came through. Everyone that risked the journey in never came back."

"Have you tried closing it?"

"No, if it closed, the school's foundation would become unstable."

"Right, yeah, the, uh, 'Black Pulse' theory."

"The tremors are from ion spikes in the vortex's shell. It causes more suction and weakens it's walls."

"If it causes suction, why haven't we been sucked in yet?"

"Force field." Macintosh points to one of the walls, which had an old school force field generator connected to it, "Stay here while I make sure the vortex remains stable."

Macintosh took two steps before a third, more violent tremor hit and dislodged the generator, shutting down the force field. Macintosh grabbed hold of the control console for the generator as the suction kicked in. Keith pulled his swords out and pierced the ground with them, but it wasn't enough. Though his grip was strong, the floor panel's wasn't. His swords had loosened it and the vortex pulled it, and Keith in.

"Keith!" Macintosh called.

Keith tried to pierce the console, but was too slow. All he could see afterwards were various shades of purple.

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 _Present_

As the ranch came into view, Keith considered whether he would continue his search for his family or not after everything that has happened. He still wanted to know how much of his family was alive, but everything that happened in Ruby's world changed things. It opened a new door of possibilities for him.


End file.
